Olivine Stone and the Lost Vault
by cloudninja7
Summary: Join Olivine Stone and the "mane" six ponies in this adventure to discover the Lost Vault and the dangerous item that dwells within it. The mysterious gem known as The Sun Stone!


My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

Adventures

Olivine Stone and the Lost Vault

Act I

Discovery

Part I

A cool breeze blew through the orange and red leaves of the Fillydelphia University as many earth ponies, unicorns, and pegasi made their way past a large statue in the middle of the common yard. Three carved jade figures, a unicorn, pegasus, and pony, stood on their hind legs giving a high hoof below a Sun and Moon made out of shiny steel. A copper plaque read, "Fillydelphia University: Three Minds Are Better Than One." Fall had come to Fillydelphia and another day of classes was underway. However, one red-brown filly with a red apple mane and heavy saddle bags was not enjoying the sights of the university. She galloped through the common yard, cutting off and nearly colliding with student poines, shouting apologies as she blew past.

"Excuse me! Sorry! Coming through! Watch out!" 

With little effort, she vaulted, sailing over a pair of unicorns walking across her path and continued her pace after a perfect landing.

The yellow unicorn that she jumped over just looked at her as the filly disappeared in the distance. With a huff she turned to her friend, annoyed, "Who jumps over another pony like they're a hedge these days?"

Olivine Stone, continued to run to her first class, at the Equestrian Science building ahead of her. She was late, very late. Olivine couldn't believe she had slept through the morning, thanks to her alarm not working, and her class started forty minutes ago. As she approached the building a side door opened as somepony was exiting. She squeezed in past him.

"Thanks!" she shouted behind her as the colt blinked in surprise still holding the door open.

Olivine flew up the stairs, taking them three at a time, and went through the doors at the top. After muffling the door as it closed, Olivine peeked around the corner into the large lecture hall. Professor Crack, a middle aged unicorn, with a dark brown coat and white mane, was lecturing with an old fashioned candle lit projector to show his transparencies. The lights were out, thank Celestia, and it seemed everypony was falling asleep. Olivine slowly began to creep, on the tips of her hooves, behind the seats looking for an open one in a row. All the while the lecture was going on, covering gems, her favorite subject. Olivine scolded herself, this was the best day to be in class and she had missed the lecture. 

"And as you can see here in this figure," Professor Crack stifled a yawn," we have many sorts of gems that can be created in the natural world. Some are pure magic, those are rare. Some are pure minerals, far more common, but limited to certain geological areas. A mixture of both is the most common and found in many areas." The professor cleared his throat with a cough and changed the slide.

Olivine saw an empty end of a row on the far left side of the lecture hall and the unicorn near it was drooling on the desk. Olivine took the opportunity to make a diving roll across the aisle between the two sides.

"Now, magic can make gems grow in unusual areas, a "hot spot" if you will pardon the simple expression. These locations are any areas that have a strong magical resonance, yet why they exist is unknown and even today we find new ones with no explanation as to their origin."

Olivine crawled to the end of the row. She tried to sit in the booth, but the unicorn, almost all blue except for blond highlights in his mane, took up too much room. Olivine nudged him, trying to move him down the row so she wouldn't have to sit on the edge of the seat, but he was heavy. After a few moments she gave up and sat as comfortable as possible on the hard edge. To her dismay the colt started to lean against her in his sleep and his snoring started to become audible.

Professor Crack looked up to where the snoring was coming from, directly at Olivine. Shaking his head he straightened his glasses."Alright, I'll stop there for today, I'll turn the lights on and you can ask one or two questions before I let you go."

Professor Crack blew out the candle on the projector and flipped the switch with his magic. The audience of sleepy students began to rustle and do their best to appear awake, only a few actually were wide awake; the rest had obvious bed hair or drowsy stares towards the front of the class room. Olivine did notice a few hooves go up and the professor picked a pink pegasus.

"So not only can unicorns make gems, any pony can use them? Why doesn't everypony have gems to make them the fastest or strongest pony around?"

Professor Crack frowned, "The process of creating gems an intensive and delicate process. Controlling the magic within a gem is just as hard as learning to control the magic within the unicorn. Furthermore, the more powerful the crafter, the more powerful the gem is, but the opposite is true as well. This practice is also controlled by the Council of Magic and Princess Celestia herself so dangerous gems are not created. However, this is off topic though; the idea of owning as many gems as a pony can hold doesn't necessarily make them great, it's the magic within ponies that does that, allowing the gems to enhance them. Without that inner strength gems are nothing, but pretty stones. Next question."

Professor Crack pointed to Olivine as she raised her hoof.

"These "hot spots" you called them, they just appear and disappear, randomly?"

Professor Crack gave a crafty smile. Olivine knew he liked that question.

"Yes, one of the mysteries of our world I'm afraid. The most stable zones of gems are those near high concentration of magic or artifacts either forgotten or lost long ago. To me that's more of a reason to search these fields of gems to discover the secrets within the ground under them. In fact that's my research. If any of you have a curiosity, I'll be happy to talk to you about that and other subjects of interest over lunch some time. " Professor Crack smiled and then looked at the clock on the wall. His smile faded and he sighed. "Alright, you may leave. Next time we'll have our second lecture on gems. Read chapter seven of your books and pay attention to mineral names, I can guarantee a quiz on them next week."

Olivine watched as students began to leave, talking to each other, obviously not about the class they had just had. The blue unicorn was still asleep. Olivine pushed him off of her and got up. He woke with a snort, looked around, and lazily got up to leave, never the wiser of what had happened. Olivine did her best to not look like she had just run across campus to make it to class late.

"I assume Ms. Stone you were trying to butter me up so that I wouldn't be rough on you for being so late for class?"

Olivine cringed, as Professor Crack scowled at her, it was obvious he had noticed her missing today.

"It won't happen again Professor Crack, I simply -"

She stopped her hurried explanation when she started hear Professor Crack laughing.

"It worked! I'm glad you asked that question so don't worry yourself so much. It was only one class, and besides you know all of this like the back of your hoof! You probably learned more in two minutes than the entire class did in one hour."

Olivine's ears shot up, and she smiled. Professor Crack, one of the most light hearted and one of the best professors professors on campus. She felt relieved that she had him as her advisor and mentor. The professor motioned Olivine to follow him as he was moving towards the door, to exit the class. Olivine quickly followed him out. As they walked down the hall, Professor Crack spoke again.

"I trust you will be in the lab today, working on those samples in your saddle bags?"

"Yes, Professor. I'm starting on the gems from the outskirts of Ponyville today."

"Excellent, I want to see results as soon as possible. I'm sure you are eager to get started on your work." The professor paused. "However, Olivine, I was reviewing you proposal.

Olivine came to a halt, her mind racing. A wave of doubt came over her._ Did she do something wrong? Was it not good enough?_ She did the best to look unfazed as the professor turned to her and continued. 

"When asked to work on the large gem field outside of Ponyville, I must say I was surprised. As far as I can see, this project you want to do doesn't have much going for it and I don't know if you will find anything worthwhile to publish. There are other gem fields and areas I could show you that would provide plenty of work and bring you results. Are you sure you want to study that area?"

"Professor, we both find it a bit odd that there is a large barren gem field right next to a thriving woodland area? It's the perfect site to be a magical artifact or a lost civilization buried under the rocks!" 

Olivine felt good about that answer, it was the truth, and it ate at her ever since she first heard about the gem field and this field of research. Professor Crack, looked down and gave a small smile before looking back at Olivine.

"Lost civilizations may be pushing it. You have your work cut out for you. If this isn't a long shot I don't know what is. Most sites don't have any grand histories or secrets as you might think. Yet, no pony has studied why that area exists so you will be the first to find any answers about that area. It's quite a risk, but I look forward to what you find out."

Olivine stiffened and saluted, messing her bangs in the process over her eyes. "You can count on me professor, I won't disappoint. There is something there and I'll find out what it is! It's too large and far too plentiful to be a natural reservoir of magic."

Professor Crack held his smile. "That's why you are my student; it's that perseverance that I admire. Well, you should get to work, I have to be off campus for a while. If anyone asks for me, they can come by my office after lunch, but no office hours today, I made an announcement in class. Good luck."

The professor walked away from Olivine towards his office before leaving. Olivine blew her bangs out of her eyes. What a day it was starting to be, not so bad after all.

"So far so good, I think I'm clear of anymore misfortunes for the rest of the day." she said to herself as she walked back to the stairs to go to the lab. 

The early afternoon sun was hovering over the Sun Court in Canterlot and ponies of all sorts were going about their business up keeping the castle. One particular white pegasus, covered in the standard attire of a Celestial Guard, gold armor and legionary helmet, walked down a hall with two unicorns, one pink the other green, in dark violet serving robes. He marched forward, looking straight ahead, never blinking, a key in his mouth. As the group walked down the hall the decor became more bathed in shadow than sunlight. On the walls hung pictures of dusk and further down, nights and starry skies. The celestial guard and the two servants stopped at the large wooden double doors at the end of the hall, carved with a large moon and stars over a lake scene.

Inside the room was nearly pitch black except for a soft glow of green light above a large deep violet bed. A mound in the covers laid in the middle of the bed. There was a knock on a door and the mound in the covers moved slightly. The knock came again. The mound moved again and spoke.

"Go away, it's too early," said the mound, too muffled to really be heard.

The guard outside the door spoke in a gruff voice, audible through the door. "Princess Celestia wants you to get up; it's the early afternoon. She says it's time for your first meal of the day."

The mound moved to "face" the door. "Tell her, I'm sleeping until evening, it's too early in the day, come back at twilight."

With a huff, the mound turned back around and the pony underneath laid down. The door opened with a click and the light from the hall rushed in, highlighting the mound, which flinched and gave a soft groan. The two robed ponies trotted into the room and opened the curtains with magic, allowing the bright afternoon sun to enter the room. The burst of light caused the pony underneath the covers let out a cry of shock, roll around frantically on the bed, trying to get out of the sunlight, and eventually fall off the bed in a tangled roll of sheets.

"Princess Luna, forgive me, but I have orders. Your sister wants you up early today. She awaits you in the throne room. I'll leave you with your servants to get ready." With that, the celestial guard left the room, giving the key in his mouth to the pink serving maid, who accepted it and bowed after both of them removed their hoods. 

Princess Luna poked her head out of her sheets seeing the celestial guard walk out of the room. She pouted, what did her sister want now? She looked at the two servants waiting for her. "You can leave, I'll be out shortly, and I don't need you right now, thank you."

They bowed their heads and left. As soon as they were clear of the door Luna slammed the doors behind them. Luna wiggled on the floor in her sheets, so only her head stuck out of the sheets warped around her. She snickered to herself, it was way too comfortable to leave the sheets at the moment. She didn't care that her sister had probably chosen this specific time to wake her so the sun would be right there to shine in her room. Luna closed the curtains with her horn and looked up at the roof, the only source of light in the room. There was an accurate display of the starry sky in small glowing stones. The room was slightly illuminated, but it was only enough to simulate a perfect starry night, complete with the ghost of the edge of the galaxy they lived in. Luna smiled, she would have the task of changing the stones to match the sky above her room soon, but that was always fun, and something to do when she was controlling the night. Luna paused in thought, her sister rarely disturbed her during the day, since that was her time to rest. She didn't need to sleep much in the day, that was true, but she was always groggy in the day, just like her sister was at night. In fact they both could stay up as long as they wanted and never needed sleep, but it had it's uses, especially after long periods of use of magic . Recently, though, staying up longer had become easier due to the discovery of a wonderful elixir, coffee. Luna closed her eyes and instantly knew what she wanted to drink for her first meal, coffee!

"Wait, coffee!" she shouted, struggling to get out of her sheets. If she wanted coffee,she would need to get out of bed right now! The two servants were talking to themselves, giggling about something, when the disheveled princess burst from the room.

"Quick, I need to get ready! Also, tell the cook I want coffee, with two marshmallows this time, extra cream and foam!"

The unicorns looked at each other, the first to move was the pink one, and she ran down the hall, while the lime green one walked with Luna back to her room to get her ready.

Princess Luna, walked into her personal dining room. She felt refreshed now that her dark blue mane and darker blue coat were brushed and combed perfectly. This small dining room was where she ate her own meals when not eating with guests, mayors, ambassadors, and her sister. On the table was a great selection of fruit, and a large salad, only with salt and pepper sprinkled on it. But by it was the treasure of the feast; a very large mug of coffee.

Not only was it large, but it was Luna's personal mug. When she had learned first learned of coffee, she not only discovered how good it was, but some of the things that ponies did with it. Ponies had to have their own personal mug. Luna's loved her mug made for her by a crafts pony that specialized in coffee and coffee accessories. Star Bucky was very good at what he did. The mug,when cold, had a mural of a sunny day on a field, but when warm with coffee, the day turned to night. When Luna saw it in action for the first time, she paid him a small fortune for such a wonderful gift. He also became the official Royal Coffee Supplier. The strange thing was that no pony in the whole palace, even her sister, had ever thought of drinking coffee. Needless to say, everypony, was enjoying the elixir, and morale was at an all time high. Best of all, her sister could stay up with her longer during the nights.

Luna gave a squeal of delight, and began to eat. She looked at the perfect moon shape in the foam before taking the first sip from her mug. Two marshmallows popped up from the depths of the mug. She sighed in delight and wiped the frothy mustache from her lips.

"Perfect."

Luna took her time as she walked down the main hall after her meal. The palace was always so well kept and the guards always so ridged. Many times she tried to make them laugh or sneeze, it didn't work, they were too good. When she approached the large golden embroidered double door, both guards motioned her to wait a moment, and before she could protest, one spoke.

"It will only take a moment Princess Luna. Princess Celestia is in a meeting. I'll inform her that you have arrived."The guard went into the throne room leaving Luna at the door.

Luna observed the large golden double door while she waited patiently, flexing her wings a little as she sat down on the carpet. The door was new, it hadn't been there before she was banished. Back then it had been an elaborate archway into the throne room and most of the old design was visible around the doors. The doors themselves had designs of ponies frolicking in the sun next to a river and a little house. Luna frowned, a figure of her sister straddled the two doors, split evenly down the middle a sun on left of her the moon on her right with rays of light beaming from her. Luna sighed out loud, another sign of her absence of more than one-thousand years and the work she had to do to make up for those years.

The door opened and the guard nodded to the other. The two Celestial guards opened the doors for her and she stepped into the throne room. The large red velvet carpet lead to the throne surrounded by the grand crystal tiled floor that gently reflected the sun coming from the stained crystal windows. On the throne sat her older sister and underneath the throne was a quiet waterfall fountain falling into a small pond. Though there was no breeze, Princess Celestia's hair moved as if there was a gentle wind, and sparkled in the light. Her pure white coat shone with the true perfection she had inherited as a Princess. The necklace and crown caught the light of the hall. They were her special armor, that she wore ever since ...

Luna shook her head trying not to remember, and suppressed the rush of feelings, and instead, continued to walk towards the throne. This wasn't the time to keep realizing the changes since being banished and worrying about it, that was for another time. To distract herself she looked around the room. The throne room wasn't completely empty, there were two guards standing at the throne, stiff as statues and Philomena, in her cage. Luna noticed that she was still healthy, that was good; that bird was trouble when it was getting ready to have its burning day. As Luna got closer,she noticed that another, smaller bird was sitting on the throne, and her sister was looking at a piece of paper in the air. She had apparently just finished reading it, and rolled it up and turned her head to speak to the little bird, a robin, only after a quick glance in Luna's direction.

"Good, I'm glad to hear this. You may go, I'll decide on it tomorrow." Celestia nodded to the robin.

The robin simply nodded and flew out the throne room doors. A servant, clothed in special serving cloths for the throne room with a perfectly ridiculous poofy hat, took the paper in mid air and left through a curtained room to the side of the throne. The Princess got up and stretched her wings, making her look much larger, and walked towards Luna.

Quickly,Luna gave an overly dramatic bow, "You summoned me, oh mighty and benevolent ruler? I tremble at your feet."

Princess Celestia gave a small laugh and Luna looked up to see here sister's smiling face. "I see you are in a good mood, must be the coffee."

Luna, gave a sheepish grin and stood up. "Sis, you wanted to see me?"

"Yes, I wanted you to look at something."

Luna furled her brow trying to read her sisters face. When Celestia talked in vague terms, there was always an angle of some kind.

"You got me up early to show me something?"

"Yes, I think it's time you saw something in the Royal Vault."

"The Vault? That old place? Why now?"

Celestia smiled, "Oh, I think you'll be pleased when you see it."

Luna just rolled her eyes and groaned in annoyance, and followed after her sister, who was walking out the doors of the throne room.

"Why don't you just tell me what it is? Please?"

"Luna, if I did it would spoil the surprise. I swear, when you see it, you'll be happy."

Luna, stopped in the middle of the hall. "It's not like last Monday is it?"

The Princess Celesta stopped in mid step. She turned around and was grinning. The grin was not reassuring, being far more wider than a grin should ever be.

"No, it's ... not ... but ..." She started to giggle uncontrollably and started to prod the ground with her raised hoof.

Most ponies didn't know, but her sister was the biggest prankster in all of Equestria. No pony could match her, some of her jokes could last for years before the punch line was finally delivered. Luna pouted as she remembered last Monday had been a big prank. The recent prank had been simple, but very effective. Luna had her usual first two meals, yet never saw her sister the entire day. When night began, her sister didn't come to star gaze with her, as she usually did. While Luna was observing a particular star entering a new stage of it's life, a servant brought a mug of coffee to her, saying it was from the princess as an apology. When Luna drank it, not only was it too spicy, but it also dyed her teeth blue for a full week. The final part of the joke was the servant had been her sister in disguise, who was rolling around on the balcony in a fit of giggles. It was obvious that while she was in the moon fighting for her sanity and the overwhelming guilt, her sister had been learning new tricks and keeping up with the latest in the joke world.

Celestia slowly returned to her regal attitude, but still seemed to be fighting back a smile, failing miserably, and looking ridiculous with her teeth biting her lower lip. Luna just stared at her sister for a moment, then with a stiff upper lip Luna walked ahead. However, just when she thought she had made her point, Luna felt her hoof catch on the rug in the hall and went face first with a yelp. She groaned as the laughter of her sister echoed through the hall.

Eventually the royal pair arrived at a very large metal double door at the end of a wing of the castle. There were two guards, Luna was surprised, but these two were in full armor, including special horse shoes and gems in small sockets, obviously to enchant them and make them stronger. Luna still felt a little sorry for them. These poor souls apparently had gotten the short end of the straw, and were on vault duty today. She was sure it must be very boring.

"We're here to take a look at the the treasury in the royal vault." said Celestia.

"Certainly. I'll activate the elevator,your majesty." said the guard on the right.

He turned around and grabbed a lever in his mouth and pulled it down. There was a roar as the sound of some contraption began to turn on. The doors began to echo with the sounds of many tumblers and gears moving, and slowly they opened revealing a platform. Celestia without hesitation stepped on the platform. She turned around to see Luna still staring wide eyed at the doors and the platform.

"It is safe,dear."

Luna wasn't convinced, those sounds that _thing_ made were not normal. "What sort of magic is this?"

"It's an elevator; I'll tell you how it works later tonight if you want. We could pick up a book on the way back. Please get on, so we can go to the vault."

Luna, pawed the metal platform and felt the cold of the metal even through her thin booties. It didn't seem natural, but she wanted to see the surprise and get it over with so she could do something else. When she got on, Celestia pulled a lever with her magic. A grating connected to the other side of the entrance allowing the elevator to begin its descent. The sudden movement felt like falling and instinctively Luna spread her wings.

Celestia chuckled. "Everything is fine. Relax."

"What is with all this metal? It's not natural." she grumbled

There was a moment of silence before Celestia looked at Luna. Luna looked back up at her.

Celestia nodded towards Luna's back, "Dear .. your wings."

Luna stared at Celesta, then looked at her wings. She gasped and quickly folded her wings looking down at the metal floor.

"I hate elevators." she said softly.

"Luna is there anything that is recent that you don't hate? It's called progress. You knew ponies would eventually discover new ways to do things easier."

"Yes, but why this?" She stomped her hoof on the metal making a clang echo in the shaft.

"Well, the vault is bigger."

"Really? How big?"

"Well, how many floors were there around the last time you were here?"

Luna, had to go deep in her memories, not easy, the effects of being Nightmare Moon had made things fuzzy. There were many memories she wanted to keep hidden and some had been pushed far back in her memory. Yet, eventually she remembered something.

"I think around four hundred different vaults, spread out, right?"

"Yes," Celestia nodded, also thinking, "I believe that's about right. Well, we are well over that. So much so, we had to remodel the whole vault several times."

Luna's jaw dropped, "There are that many chambers in the vault now!"

"Yes, we've all been very busy for one-thousand years. Oh, the stories I could tell you."

Luna looked down and began to feel the cold ache of loneliness again. One-thousand years and so much had changed, leaving her forgotten. Luna felt a warm sensation as her sister wrapped her wings around her and pulled her close.

"Don't worry, Luna, we have all the time in the world to catch up. It'll take less time than you think, and I'll be there whenever you need help. I promise."

Luna nuzzled her sister, enjoying the moment and warmth. It was short, there was a jolt as the elevator stopped.

"Looks like we are here!" Celestia said with a small amount of excitement.

Luna and Celestia walked towards a large double door. They were underground somewhere in the heart of the mountains near Canterlot. The doors were decorated with stylized portrayals of Luna and Celestia, rearing towards both the sun and moon on their respective doors. A small hole was in the middle of the door. Luna was surprised yet again. "Is this our personal treasury?"

"Yes, it is. There's a lot in here, but I think you'll find everything as you left it."

Luna smiled, this was great, there were many things she had stored that she could look at. After Celestia put her horn in the hole, she used her magic to unlock the doors, which groaned slowly open. Magic torches lit up and illuminated in blue light, several smaller vault doors, each with the seal of the sun on it. As the pair walked deeper into the chamber, Luna noticed several with the symbol of the moon on the doors, but when she looked in inside, some were empty. Eventually she found a few that were filled with many keepsakes and treasure. Luna stared at the first vault that was full; feeling the rush of happy memories from all the things inside. It was comforting and every time she would try to look away, another object would catch her attention.

"Come on, the surprise is in here." said Celestia motioning to a slightly larger door at the very end of the hall.

The two sisters approached the door with both a moon and sun on the door with a diamond shaped jewel in the middle. Celestia willed the doors open and the vault lit up again with the same blue fire. The room was full of several glass cases, placed on large shelving all with gems of different types, shapes, colors, and luster inside each case. They walked down the center aisle, all the gems sparkling in the torch light, their plaques displaying many names, when finally Celesta stopped in front of one case. Luna stared at the case, her sister, and then the case again in surprise.

"You found it!" Luna stared at the white pearl in the center of the case. "It's the Moon Stone! I thought ... but ... how?"

"Well, it took a long time, but eventually some clever ponies discovered it. I thought you might like to see it."

"Amazing!"

Luna stared at the flawlessness of the white sphere, just as she remembered it. Yet, Luna's face changed to concern. This was the Moon Stone, but...

"Sister, where is the _other _stone?"

Celestia, paused for a moment, and looked down, "I decided not to find it. It is hidden very well, no pony could find it. I feel that it should stay that way, lost forever, so that neither of us can be tempted to use it, again."

That's not fair! Why do you get to keep your stone?" Luna pouted.

Celestia looked down, avoiding Luna's gaze. "That may be true, but still, I feel that it should remain hidden. At least for the time being. Eventually, I may start looking for the stone so that it can be kept safe here. Till then, can you understand?"

Luna looked away from her sister and back at the Moon Stone. There was no point to be upset over it. All of it was in the past, and she didn't need that stone any way. Luna wanted to move on from the past, and if that stone was to remain hidden, it was probably for the best. Looking at the Moon Stone, Luna tried to move the stone in the case with her magic, but she felt magical interference from the glass blocking her.

"Can I hold the stone? I can't get it through the glass, even with my magic." Luna asked turning to her sister.

"I don't see why not. I'll dispel it for you."

Celestia went close to the case and her horn began to glow. So did the glass, however when nothing happened, the glow quickly disappeared, but the case still hovered in mid air.

"What?" said Celestia, shocked.

"Sister?" Luna asked confused as a sudden change came over her sisters face.

Celestia glared directly at the glass case. Luna blinked and backed away, she remembered that face. She had seen it, back then. Her sister was very upset. Celestia's whole body began to glow and her eyes were eclipsed by white light. The magic around the box was four times more powerful now, but it was more than that, Celestia was analyzing the spell on the glass box. Why? Wasn't it her magic that protected the stone? The glass box began to shudder as her the magic began to intensify. Luna was amazed, at the rate her sister was increasing her power she was nearing a tenth of her strength, there were only a few times in her memory when she ever required that level of power. There was a small flash and the glass box disappeared leaving the Moon Stone floating in the air. Luna started to walk toward the pearl, but Celestia put a hoof in front of her face blocking her, still holding on to her magical energy around her.

"Don't approach it. This is not the Moon Stone." Celestia said in a voice that echoed with authority as well as contempt.

"What?" whimpered Luna, and she back trotted from Celestia's raised hoof. "What are you doing? What do you mean?"

Luna couldn't believe it. That pearl looked exactly like the Moon Stone. Celesta, still concentrating, manipulated the stone with a furious glare. Suddenly her eyes went wide, and the pearl shot towards the far wall. Luna gave out a cry of shock when the pearl reached the wall, bursting into a white dust, some marking the wall, the rest falling to the floor. Luna stared at the spot, the echo of the destruction reverberating in the cavern vault. Luna realized that Celestia was right; that wasn't the Moon Stone, it was a fake, magical gems couldn't be broken with so little effort, especially one like that.

"What's going on?" Luna asked, shaken, giving her sister a puzzled look.

Celestia stopped glowing and stared at the white patch on the wall. Luna saw a look of frustration and fury. But that wasn't what made her stomach turn, that was the look in Celestia's eyes, wide with terror, as she spoke.

"We've been robbed."

Celestia bolted out of the vault and shot up the elevator shaft. Luna did her best to keep up, and when she arrived she saw her questioning the guards. They were just as shocked as she was and were obviously sincerely confused and fearful of Celestia's wrath. Celestia cut them off when Luna arrived and she enveloped them in magic, analyzing them. Just as quickly, she let the guards go, and ran down the hall.

"Robbed! How can we be robbed!" Luna frantically asked as her sister bolted down the hall back to the throne room.

"What did you do to the guards? Did they know something? Please tell me what's going on!"

"No, they are innocent, someone tricked the guards into letting them into the vault!"

"How is that even possible, what pony would do such a thing? Steal the Moon Stone! I'm here now, no pony has used it, I would know!"

"That's just it! Luna, we have to find both stones, now!"

"Find, both?" Luna came to a halt. "How are we going to find them? No pony has discovered the other one! You just said that it would remain lost for as long as you wanted!"

Her words were on deaf ears as Celestia continued to run down the hall. With a scream of frustration, Luna spread her wings and started to fly through the hall. She didn't care if it wasn't allowed, who was going to tell her otherwise, she was a princess. She caught up with her sister, just as she arrived in the Throne Room.

"Script!" Celestia shouted causing the two guards by the throne suddenly focused on her.

"Your ... majesty?"

A pony, the same one that had taken the letter before, came out from a curtain beside the throne.

"We have had a security breach, alert the guards, I want the best of the guards to meet me in the throne room now!"

"A breach! What is going on!" Script asked bumbling forward.

"Do as I say! We don't have time for details!"

Celestia glared at Script and he bolted from the throne room shouting for the guards and desperately trying to keep the silly hat on the whole time.

"Sis what is going on! How did they even know it existed?"

"Not now Luna, I have to find the thief and both stones as soon as possible."

Luna had seen her sister like this before, when she was Nightmare Moon, her sister had been this stressed. Yet, ponies never did this sort of thing, so this was unheard of, yet the tension and glare was just like that time long ago. Who would dare steal from their ruler and think they could get away with it? Celestia, narrowed her eyes, as the guards came rushing into the room. They saw the look in her eyes and they stopped and stood at attention ready for orders.

"Guards," Celestia barked, "we are in a delicate situation. The Royal Vault has been robbed and an important artifact has been removed."

Many of the eyes of the guards went wide and a few swallowed nervously. Script in the mix gasped out loud.

"I have yet to find out how this happened and I don't believe any of you are to blame. This is the work of powerful magic. Whoever it is, they are able to hide their talent from my watchful presence in my own castle. Never the less, I want you all to stay vigilant. As of now, the Sun Court is closed until further notice, no one is allowed in or out. I want all of you to be sweeping the castle looking for clues as to how this happened. I want some of you to guard my sister as well, when it is her turn to start the night. Not a word of this is to leave the castle, is that understood?"

"Yes, your majesty." was shouted back by every guard present.

"Script, come forward."

Script recovered and feebly trotted forward head down. The hat fell off.

"Your majesty?"

"Inform the night guard, and prepare for long shifts, I will not rest until the culprit is apprehended and the item returned!"

With that they were dismissed and eventually Luna and Celestia were alone.

"What does this mean sister? What's going on? If you just tell me, I'm sure I can help."

Celestia, gave a long drawn out sigh, "I don't know, but I fear Equestria may be in danger. I need time to think."

Luna looked at Celestia, puzzled. She was staring directly at her. What did her sister really know that she wasn't telling? Luna shook her head, there was no way to tell, all she could do was wait for now. Yet, Celestia was still looking at her when she looked back up at her.

"Sis? What is it?"

Celestia realized she was staring at Luna and turned her head to look out the window towards the sun. "We wait. Wait and see."

She continued to repeat the words over and over, staring at the sun.


End file.
